


I wish I was as strong as you Tim

by AutisticAnxietyDragon



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Autistic!tim, daddy!Bats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:09:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28593042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutisticAnxietyDragon/pseuds/AutisticAnxietyDragon
Summary: Bruce knew he shouldn't have let Tim come to the gala and now the boy felt guilty for having a sensory overload brake down.Or Bruce helps Tim during and after he has a brake down due to the loud noises and the flashes of camera's at a chairty gala.
Kudos: 36





	I wish I was as strong as you Tim

**Author's Note:**

> Tim is borderline Autistic, he can hide it most of the time and often does, but sometimes things get a little to much for him and he has a bit of a breakdown. This is based on my low level autism and how I react to certain things and how I behave. This is not here to make fun of Autism it's more a way of making people aware of what it can do to people.

Bruce couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of his sons grumbling to Alfred about the suits they had to ware, they were attending a charity gala to raise money for the Gotham Hospital due to a rise in flu cases over the last few weeks the staff were working overtime with all the different cases along with those injured due to Arkham breakouts and the like. Bruce had felt it was a small way he could help when not being the Bat. It was also thanks to them that Jason was even with them to be able to attend this gala, Bruce had thought he had lost his son that day he found him in the rubble of the building Joker and blown up but Jason had still been alive and clinging to it. Batman had rushed to change the boy and then rushed him to the nearest hospital sighting that he had been kidnapped with the Joker alongside Robin who had not made it. The staff didn’t question it and had treated Jason for his injuries, the boy had been in a coma for six months before he came around alone in his hospital room.

Bruce had been called immediately and he arrived at the hospital to calm the boy down from his angry outburst. It had taken time but slowly Jason had recovered from what had happened to him and slowly he began to accept the newest addition to the family, although he had been furious to find out that Tim had taken over as Robin, Jason felt as though he had been replaced. But when Tim showed Jason the new costume that Tim himself had made, a new hero for Jason alone the boys began to get along, it had taken Bruce another three months before he would let Jason on patrol and even then it was only on quite nights. But with Robin pleading as well as Nightwing the Bat soon caved. Years later Tim would have his own hero name and he would patrol every night with Nightwing and Red Hood while Bruce patrolled with the new Robin.

“Bruce do we have to go?” came a quite voice beside his elbow which shook Bruce from his musing and he looked down to the wide blue eyes of Tim. Bruce could see his hands twitching his wrists turning every so often as if the boy was trying to restrain from flapping his arms. Bruce frowned and knelt down onto one knee to be eye level with the thirteen year old.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to Tim, I’m sure we can make excuses for you,” Bruce replied as he laid his hand on Tim’s shoulder. Tim took a deep breath and tugged at the sleeves of his black suit jacket which matched the black pants, the only bit of color being the yellow dress shirt the boy was sporting. “Tim it’s OK,” Bruce tried to sooth as he took Tim’s hands into his own.

“I’ll go,” he whispered.

“Are you sure?” Bruce asked his concern rising and Tim gave a jerky nod looking anywhere but Bruce’s face which made the bat frown, Tim struggled with eye contact but he usually made an effort to at least look at some part of the person’s face when he spoke to make the illusion of looking into their eyes. “OK,” he finally said and stood once more to his full height and dusting off the knees of his black suit pants which matched his suit jacket, he was also wearing a white dress shirt under his jacket which had the top few buttons undone in the typical Brucie Wayne style. Tim took Bruce’s hand in his own and held it tightly and Bruce gently squeezed back. “Boys stop hounding Alfred and lets go,” Bruce called to his other three sons who all turned to him with different facial expressions to show their displeasure. Dick was the tallest of the three wearing what could only be described as a cross between disgruntled and pleading, it made him seem kind of constipated in Bruce’s opinion. The nineteen year old was wearing a black suit like Tim and Bruce’s but with a blue dress shirt.

Stood in-front of him was a glare on his face to make Batman proud was nine year old Damien who was wearing a miniature version of Bruce’s suit with a green dress shirt. The boys arms were crossed in-front of his chest to show his displeasure at this event which Bruce chose to ignore.

Then sixteen year old Jason moved to stand beside Dick a look of indifference on his face but Bruce could see the tick of his eye which showed his annoyance at the very thought of another gala, but he chose not to show it as he knew what the money was for.

“Why don’t the girls have to go?” Dick whined and Bruce rolled his eyes, sometimes he wondered if his sons were hit with a ray that changed their ages around.

“Barbara is meeting us there as the Commissioners daughter. Stephanie has a stomach bug and Cassandra has finals to study for,” Bruce replied and Dick’s shoulders slumped in defeat and nodded his head and with that the Bat’s were herded into the limo by Alfred.

* * *

When they arrived the media were in full swing and Bruce saw Tim flinch and his arms stiffen as if he was trying to stop them from covering his ears and the boys eyes were screwed shut. Bruce made eye contact with Jason and Dick and they herded the younger boys inside while Bruce played up his part of Brucie Wayne for the media before he finally entered the building. Bruce looked around for his boys and rolled his eyes when he spotted Dick flirting with Barbara, Damien stood in the corner of the room glaring at anyone that dared go near him and Jason was at the buffet table looking through the options available. Tim was stood near Jason but seemed to have calmed some what but Bruce was determined to keep an eye on the boy any way.

* * *

They had smashed through their goal and the night was nearing to an end when it happened. The noise reached the loudest it had been all night when the cheer rose up when Bruce announced how much they had raised for the Hospital and then of course the camera’s began to flash. Bruce heard it first, a small cry and he turned his head to see Tim collapse to his knees on the floor his hands over his ears and his eyes screwed shut tight his hole body was shaking and his fingers were spasming in his hair. Tears were running down the boys cheeks as he rocked back and forth whining in his throat. Bruce ignored the cries of surprise and the conversations now taking place, some wondering what was happening and others making unjust comments about how Tim was embarrassing Bruce. Bruce skidded to his knees in-front of Tim and the boy started to pull at his hair and shake his head and he was keening low in his throat as if in pain, and to Tim this was pain. “Dick! Go and grab the bag from the car. Now!” Bruce shouted without even turning to look at his sons, but he could hear the crowds being dispersed by Jason and Damien much to their disgruntlement. Bruce didn’t pay them any mind his focus all on Tim, this rarely happened but Bruce should have known that Tim wouldn’t be able to cope tonight as he had already had a bad day, the boy was just as stubborn as Bruce however so the bat knew this would just have dissolved into a melt down for a different reason.

Bruce quickly settled himself onto the floor and hauled Tim between his legs, the boy screeched and started to kick so Bruce crossed his legs over the top of Tim to prevent the boy hurting himself as he disentangled the boys hands from his hair and pinned them across his chest as the boy thrashed around. Bruce just tried to keep calm as he spoke to Tim in hope of calming the boy, but he didn’t seem to be able to hear Bruce as he screamed and cried. Suddenly Dick appeared at Bruce’s side with a plain black bag in his hand. “The blind fold and headphones,” Bruce grunted as Tim threw his head back and headbutted Bruce’s collarbone, it wasn’t enough to brake the bone thankfully but it would bruise. Dick fumbled into the bag before withdrawing an eye-mask which he wrestled over Tim’s eyes before then wrestling a pair of black and yellow noise canceling headphones onto the boy as well.

Once the noise was drowned out Tim began to settle and soon he stopped fighting Bruce and lay limply in the billionaires arms, but he was still whimpering and his hands tightened around his shirt, Bruce knew the clothing was too much for Tim’s skin right now and together with Dick they stripped Tim down to his underpants and then they wrestled the boy into a fuzzy batman onesie and Bruce pulled up the hood to cover Tim’s face and his head before he turned the boy around so the two were chest to chest and Tim laid his head on Bruce’s shoulder no longer whimpering but breathing heavily.

“Is he OK father?” came a voice from behind Bruce that was laced with fear but the person was trying to hide it and Bruce turned his head to see Damian stood behind him with Jason’s hand laid on the boys shoulder to stop him from throwing himself at Bruce.

“Just a bit of over-stimulation, he’s settling now but I think it’s time we went home,” Bruce replied and the others agreed whole heartedly. Lucius had taken over the gala now and had already handed the check over to the Hospital staff so now people were beginning to leave, but some hung around to get a glimpse at the family as they started to leave, all whispering among themselves as they eyed Tim with judgment clear in their eyes which made Bruce’s jaw tighten in anger, but at the moment Tim was his priority and nothing was going to change that.

* * *

Later that night Bruce was sat in his bed shirtless and wearing a pair of black pajama pants when he door was pushed open slightly. “Bruce?” came a small shy voice from the shadowed figure stood in the door way fiddling with something in their hands.

“Yes Tim?” Bruce asked as he set aside the report he had been reading so he could focus his attention on his son.

“I’m sorry,” Tim whispered as his gaze dropped to the floor.

“Come here Timmy. It’s wasn’t your fault,” Bruce replied as he beckoned Tim closer and the boy climbed into the bed beside Bruce and allowed himself to be pulled into Bruce’s arms.

“I should have controlled myself,” Tim replied, parroting what he had been told most of his childhood and Bruce took a deep breath through his nose and out of his mouth cursing Jackson Drake in his head for how he treated Tim.

“Tim it’s not something you can control and that’s OK. I shouldn’t have let you come when you had already had a bad day with it,” Bruce said as he ran his hand through Tim’s dark hair slowly.

“I thought I could handle it. I thought I would be able to be normal for one night,” Tim said as tears began to fall down his cheeks.

“Oh Tim,” Bruce sighed and pulled Tim into his arms laying him chest to chest like earlier and laid one arm across Tim’s back and the other hand he laid on the side of Tim’s head as the boy pressed his face into Bruce’s neck. “There is no such thing as normal Tim. But there is nothing wrong with you. It’s just sometimes your brain doesn’t know how to cope with everything that’s going on and that’s OK. You are so strong Tim, you cope with what you do every day in and out and never complain and never ask for help you just get on with it. I wish I had your strength sometimes Tim, I really do,” Bruce whispered as he slowly started to rock side to side.

“Thanks dad,” Tim whispered as slowly he fell asleep safe in the arms of his father.

“You’re welcome son,” Bruce whispered in return.


End file.
